Phone that sends smells could help treat Alzheimer's

A new device, called the oPhone, enables odors, called oNotes, to be sent via email, tweet or text to other oPhones using Bluetooth and smartphone attachments. The oPhone, created by scientists at the Harvard School of Engineering, does not work like a normal phone and does not transmit or receive sounds. The researchers think the oPhone may help treat those with Alzheimer’s disease, stress, or other mental disorders.

Instead of looking like a normal phone, the device is cylinder-shaped and consists of a set of disposable oChips that can store and emit hundreds of different odors for between 20 and 30 seconds. The fragrances currently are created by Marlène Staiger, an aroma expert at a laboratory in France called Le Laboratoire. She deconstructs the scents before capturing them in wax.

The researchers believe the oPhone could be used to restore a person’s memory, since smell is a strong stimulator of memory.

The oPhone is currently being tested in conjunction with a coffee shop in Paris, France, called Café Coutume. The aim is to provide customers with a sensory experience. When the product first launches, the oChips will produce over 300 scents, and the hope is to have it one day produce 50,000 or more.

First penicillin shot: Feb. 12, 1941

Although the bacteria-fighting power of mold had been accidentally discovered by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming 13 years earlier, it wasn’t until 1940 that a team of doctors at Oxford University began successfully testing a new drug called penicillin on mice. By early 1941, they were ready to try it on a human.

On February 12, 1941, Dr. Howard Florey, the head of the team, injects penicillin into a 43-year-old policeman named Albert Alexander. A few months earlier, Alexander had scratched his face with a thorn from a rose and it had developed into a horrific infection and blood poisoning that covered his head with abscesses so virulent he had to have an eye removed.

The penicillin has an immediate effect. Alexander’s temperature drops back to normal and he is able to eat again. But the doctors have only a limited supply and, although they are able to prolong the treatment by extracting penicillin from Alexander’s urine, they soon run out. The patient’s condition worsens and on March 14 he dies.

But he didn’t die in vain. His initial recovery was proof that penicillin actually worked in humans. Florey and his team decided to use it only on sick children who did not need such large amounts of penicillin until their methods of production improved. (They’d been growing mold as quickly as they could in every receptacle they could find–bathtubs, bed pans, pie dishes, and even food trays, before finally settling on ceramic jars.)

Of the next five patients treated with penicillin, four recovered from their infections. The one who died, a young child, was actually cured of an infection, but died of a brain hemorrhage. By the time Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy three years later, they were equipped with ample supplies of penicillin, which saved countless lives.

Published On: Feb 14, 2014

Doctors missing chances to diagnose COPD early

A new study from the UK Department of Health estimates that 835,00 people in the UK are diagnosed with COPD, with a further 2.2 million living with the condition, but undiagnosed.

The research team conducted a large systematic review, analyzing the medical records of 38,859 patients aged 40 years and older who had been diagnosed with COPD between 1990 and 2009.

The researchers saw that 85 percent of these patients had visited their doctor or a clinic at least once with respiratory symptoms in the five years before diagnosis. Going further back, the data showed that 58 percent of patients first reported symptoms six to 10 years before diagnosis and 42 percent in the 11-15 years before diagnosis. The study authors believe that these reported symptoms represent missed opportunities to proceed with further testing that could have resulted in a COPD diagnosis.

In the conclusion to their study, the authors suggest that it might be easier to identify people at risk of COPD by systematically auditing patient records rather than only checking medical history when a patient goes to their doctor with symptoms.

Chronic infections linked with memory problems

People with chronic infections, such as herpes, may be at higher risk of memory problems and cognitive decline later in life, according to a new study.

Researchers analyzed data from a project called the Northern Manhattan Study (NOMAS), which originally began in 1990 to determine stroke risk factors in Manhattan, NY. The project involved 588 participants with an average age of 70. Scientists first collected blood samples in order to determine the participants’ past exposure to chronic infection-causing viruses and bacteria. They then had the participants take tests to provide information about their thinking skills.

The findings, which were presented at the American Stroke Association’s International Stroke Conference in San Diego, revealed that cognitive decline was more prominent in participants with chronic infections, when compared to those with no infections. It remains uncertain, however, why there exists the link between infections and cognitive function.

Researchers said that their study is helpful in that it helps point to the origin of memory problems as people get older. However, they added that there is a long way to go in research before treatments could be developed to prevent cognitive decline.